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BT and other broadband giants are considered to be worse than banks by the public and must do more to deliver a reliable internet connection, the chief executive of Ofcom has said.

Sharon White warned BT had not invested enough in keeping its network up to date and is now "out of kilter" with public expectations because of its poor customer service.

Giving evidence to the Commons culture select committee she said: "As a company, there has just not been sufficient focus on the customer and on quality of service."

It came as Ms White and Dame Patricia Hodgson, the chairman of Ofcom, warned more must be done to separate BT from Openreach, its arm which owns the pipes and cables that deliver broadband access.

The committee also discussed mobile phone signalsCredit:
PA

They warned that Openreach has an "incentive" to favour BT over other competitors and threatened more action to increase competition in the market.

BT has resisted attempts to split the two arms of its business but Ofcom has warned it must adopt changes to the way it works to guard against a monopoly in the market.

Addressing concerns that consumers are not getting a good deal the regulator said BT should do more to make sure that engineers turn up at appointments to fix customers' problems and invest in the upkeep of its network.

The chief executive said consumers should be encouraged to switch their broadband providers more frequently in order to keep up pressure on companies like BT to improve their service.

Ms White said: "There is not a strong enough focus on delivering a great service, telecommunications companies are below the banks. If you look at any customer service ranking they are right at the bottom and I think they are now out of kilter with where public expectation is."

Philip Hammond, the Chancellor will announce more money for broadband in the Autumn statementCredit:
Rii Schroer

It follows an announcement by the Government of a £400million boost to deliver fibre broadband to UK homes, expected to be included in the Autumn Statement on Wednesday.

The money will be handed to smaller providers in a bid to force BT to up its game and do more to get rural and business communities connected to reliable internet speeds.

During the hearing Ofcom also warned that BT Openreach, the arm of British Telecom dedicated to delivering broadband across the UK, has "an incentive" to favour BT over other competitors in the market, hinting that Ofcom will not reduce pressure on BT to separate itself from Openreach in legal terms.

Ms White said: "One of the reasons we are proposing legal separation from the rest of the BT group, as structural a separation as you can get to without selling off Openreach, is that we are concerned that Openreach does have an incentive to favour BT retail over and above other competitors in the market."

Ofcom warned BT must do more to give customers a good serviceCredit:
PA

Also addressing the committee of MPs Dame Patricia admitted that rural areas do not get sufficient broadband coverage.

Ms White added that she often receives letters from small businesses who go out of business because of poor internet connections.

Dame Patricia said: "There are enormous gaps, clearly huge gaps in rural areas there are gaps in parts of cities and it is particularly difficult for small businesses... one of the things we want to include in our USO work is targets to close that gap and do something for SMEs.